Like Father Like Daughter
by Moxiegirl13
Summary: Nicholas Gold is looking to adopt a son for the mayor, and instead ends up with a little girl named Emma. He is thrown headfirst into fatherhood, unbeknownst to the fact that he has adopted the savior. Ms. Swan turns out much different than the Emma we know and love because, well, like father like daughter. Slightly AU. A little Father's day gift to all Oncers.
1. Not What Was Expected

Nicholas Gold paced back and forth nervously, waiting for the bus to arrive. It was tricky, arranging a place for the orphanage to drop off the child. He paced for a few more minutes before he finally saw the bus slowly but surely making its way to the drop off spot.

When the bus driver got to the designated spot he scratched his head, and double checked the directions, because there was no town there. He had other places to be however, so he opened the bus doors and let five year old Emma off of the bus. "You be good now." He said half-heartedly, but she didn't notice. "Oh I will." She replied with a wry grin as she stepped off of the bus.

Nicholas almost had a heart attack right then and there. That child... was a little girl. Not at all the adoption he had been arranging for the mayor. The little girl ran and hugged his leg, dropping her tattered sesamee street back pack in the process.

"I knew I would get adopted someday. It's true. It's really true." She sighed happily and hugged his leg tighter. swallowed hard and tried to shake her off his leg. "Come on now. We best be getting to town." He said with a nervous laugh. He had no idea how to talk to small children. Especially not little girls.

As he and the little girl walked to town, she chattered constantly, everything reminding her of one story or another. When they passed a puddle with a turtle crawling around the edges, she began a new story. "Once I found a turtle, but Miss Monroe said I couldn't keep it, which I thought was pretty dumb 'cause he was the best behaved turtle I ever seen." She took a deep breath, having not taken one for that entire sentence, before continuing.

"That's the third time I ran away. I took my turtle who I named Kermit..." She paused. "Even though he wasn't a frog, he was green and I thought Kermit was a good name for him since I think frogs and turtles are brothers anyways. Turtles are just frogs without shells. Anyway, I shoved him in my back pack and walked to the mall with the nice man who shines shoes... I asked him to adopt me but he just took me back to the orphanage, I guess he wasn't that nice after all."

Nicholas nodded and smiled at the times he felt were appropriate, all the while thinking this felt really familiar. Suddenly it hit him. That Anne of Green Gables book. He never read it, but saw part of the movie at some free screening Mrs. Lucas had at her diner. The story was the same. Accidental adoption of an overly chatty little girl instead of the boy that was wanted. Although he doubted Regina Mills would be as understanding as the woman in the movie.

Emma chattered on for a long while, and when he thought he couldn't take it anymore, Grannie's diner came into view. He sighed in relief when he pushed open the doors and sat Emma in booth. Handing her a five dollar bill he said, "You order something for you while I go talk with the grownups, okay?" Emma beamed at him. "Yes sir." She said with a salute.

Smiling in spite of himself, Gold walked down the street to the Mayor's home. He knocked on her door and waited for her to open. When she did, it took him a minute to gather himself. Although not his type, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Madam Mayor, the uh adoption request went through and the child is here now... things went faster than expected."

"Where is he?" She asked, peering over his shoulder and expecting to see her new son.

"The child is at Grannies, and there is something you should know."

She shoved him out of the way and straightened her skirt. "No time to talk." She said. "Take me to my child.

"What...Is...This?" Regina croaked through gritted teeth when she saw the tiny blond little girl sipping a hot chocolate contentedly.

"I tried to tell you," Gold began, but she interrupted him.

"You are useless! Completely and utterly useless. I asked you to do one simple task for me: procure a male child for me to adopt as my son. And instead I get _that_." She spat, with a motion towards Emma. _That _has a name. He almost retorted, but thought better of it.

"What are you going to do? You can't just send her back."

The mayor tossed a lock of raven hair behind her ear. "Oh I can't? Watch me." She started toward Emma, but Gold grabbed her shoulder.

"Let me handle this." He waited for her look that said _never_ before he added the magic word. "_Please." _Regina looked stunned for a moment before backing away.

"Okay." She muttered. "You handle it."

Gold took a deep breath, unsure of what he was going to do. He scanned the diner. There was Mary Margaret Blanchard, sipping her coffee. She was a single school teacher and couldn't afford a child. He look around some more. Dr. Whale? Not the kid type. Leroy? No. Moe French? Nah. None of these people could take in the parentless child. He sighed, deciding to take the poor child home with him for a few nights, just until he found a sutiable family.

He never found a suitable family. That very first night the small golden haired child had captured his heart when she walked out of the guest room where she had changed into her pajamas, holding a book. "Since you're going to be my new dad, I thought you could read me a story before bed." She crawled onto his lap and nestled her head into his shoulder, not even considering the possibility that he wouldn't read. Reluctantly Nicholas picked up the book and began reading. Within five minutes the melody of his soft Scottish accent had lulled her to sleep. The next night she continued the routine, and the next night after that until they had gotten into a rhythm. Bath, pajamas, book, and then she'd be fast asleep and he lay her in the queen size guest bed before heading into his own room for some sleep.

One night he awoke around three, to find her nestled under the blankets next to him, wide awake, looking terrified. "What's the matter sweetie?" He asked, sitting up and rubbing some sleep from his eyes.

"I had a nightmare." She whispered. "Can I sleep with you?"

He bit his lip and sighed. "Well, I don't see why not. You're already here."

She smiled brightly and snuggled back down into his expensive silk sheets. "G'night Emma." He muttered sleepily. "Night Daddy." She murmured. He wasn't sure if he had heard her right, or if exhaustion had him imagining things, but somehow, her calling him such an endearing name, just seemed right. And he knew he never was going to be able to let the darling thing go.

The years passed, and Emma was raised well by Mr. Nicholas Gold. He was a loving Father, even if he didn't always show it. But Emma was a very over protected child. She learned to listen for when he would say "You most certainly can _not_." And then add in the name of what she wanted. Like "Have candy for breakfast." Or "Go on a date with one of the school boys."

He believed in working hard, and taught Emma He enrolled her in extra-curricular activities, allowed her to have Mrs. Lucas' granddaughter over (Even though he thought she was a bad influence) and when she was sixteen he bought her a car (a very expensive car) and allowed her to get a job.

Emma _loved _her father. More than anything. Since she was only five when she was adopted, she really didn't remember a time where she wasn's his child. A time where she wasn't Emma Bella Gold.

**A/N I am not entirely sure whether or not I should continue with this. What do you think?**

**Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed:) It would mean a lot if you dropped a review on your way out. **


	2. Tale Of Lost Love

Eighteen year old Emma sat across the table from her father, barely touching her bowl of spaghetti.

"What's the matter Sweetheart? Not hungry?" He asked, taking another spoonful for himself.

Emma smiled weakly. "Not really. Is it okay if I go to my room?"

Gold didn't look pleased, but he relented. "All right." He said with a sigh as he pushed back his chair and began stacking the dirty dishes.  
When Emma went to her room he brought the dishes to the sink and as he waited for it to fill with hot water, he thought about her.

She had been an easy child for the most part. She never did anything crazy in her teens, but now suddenly she had been drifting apart from him. Always quiet, not the talkative Emma he knew and loved.  
She hadn't participated in any controversial discussions like she normally did, and didn't want to help in the pawn shop.

This he found particularly troubling. Emma had always loved it at the pawn shop. Ever since she was little she loved to be there, looking at all his items, and when she got older she even began procuring her own collections. But all that had stopped a few weeks ago.

He turned off the water and squirted soap on a rag. He scrubbed the dishes, all the while wondering if it was something he did to make his daughter begin acting so strangely.

* () *

Emma sat at her desk, the lovely vintage cherry wood one her father had paid a fortune for. She leafed through some papers but finally just sat there. She looked at the pictures on her desk. One of her with Mary Margaret Blanchard when she was her teacher, one of her at the police station with her 8th grade class when Sheriff Graham had given a tour, and numerous pictures of her with her father. She stared intently at these pictures. It was something about them that made her feel uneasy. She just didn't know what it was.

In a moment though, it hit her. After all these years, none of the people in town seemed to age. But as soon as she realized this fact, something seemed to cloud her mind, and excuses were made for why everyone seemed to not age. And she left her bedroom thinking that she had been mistaken. She put on her slippers and padded downstairs to meet her father in the kitchen.

"Dad, can I talk to you for a second?"  
Gold had just finished drying the last bowl and was putting it away. When he heard his daughters voice he whirled around.

"Yes. Yes of course." He said, and then not wanting to sound too eager he added, "Can it wait a moment for me to make tea?"

Emma sat at the table and nodded her head. She watched as her father put the tea pot on to boil and then put the tea leaves in the steeper.  
It was a few minutes before he set a steaming cup of Irish breakfast tea in front of her.

He sat across from her and took a sip of his scorching brew.  
"What's on your mind?"

Emma ran her finger around the rim of her cup.  
"I just...wanted to apologize for the way I've been acting lately. I've been a little distant, and haven't exactly been treating you fairly."

He reached across the table and touched her hand. "It's alright sweetheart. Don't worry yourself."

"There's...one more thing." She said flitting her eyes up at her father who was sipping his tea.

"I'm just going to come out and say it. Why have you never seen anyone? I mean, dating. All these women bat there lashes at you and drop hints and you don't give them a thought. I don't think you realize that your smile is making a lot of women in this town crazy for you."

Gold laughed "I think you're seeing this with a romantics eye. Most people in town are scared of me, my dear. And not one of the women are attracted to me. Most of them are fawning over Sheriff Graham."

Emma bit her lip. "Actually a few of them have asked me personally if you were seeing anyone, told me to put in a good word for them... And you know they like you. So why don't you at least give them a chance?"  
A sharp pain in his chest reminded him of the woman he lost. He still loved her and his heart ached for her as if she had only been gone since yesterday. He wasn't interested in any other women. He only desired her. But she was dead.

He turned away from his daughter. He had thought of telling her about his lost love many times, but decided that she was too young to understand. But now she was eighteen. More than capable of listening and understanding. With a deep breath, he began to tell her.

"Emma, I was in love once. Really, truly in love. She was a special kind of woman. One who saw through the disguise I put on, and she still loved me for me. But I couldn't believe that someone could ever love me as she did, and I shut her out even though I was in love with her. Before I had the chance to let her back into my life and tell her what I had been holding in. Tell her I loved her..."

He trailed off and looked away from Emma. He closed his eyes and said, "She died."

Tears gathered in Emma's blue eyes.  
"Dad. I'm so sorry." She stood up and wrapped her arms around her father.

"I'm sure she knew that you loved her. When you love someone and they love you, you just... Know."

Gold was too distracted to wonder how his daughter knew this. He let her hug him while he remembered the beautiful women who was still very in love with. The woman that he lost, forever.


End file.
